Those of us close to DC knew that the new administration was going to get a wake up call when it hit the power brokers in DC. Congress and the bureaucrats have a lot of control over the federal government and can easily neuter a new President and his team.

Obama lost control over the grand stimulus bill, which turned into a liberal spendulus bill when Congress got their hands on it. The bill will do nothing for the economy for the rest of the year, I am sure, and that is due in large part to the fact Pelosi took control from him and his priorities.

Now the liberal democrats are beginning to openly revolt on Obama, and I am sure they will continue to roll this young President with little executive or DC experience.

Pelosiâ€™s aides say the speaker was comfortable playing the role of Obamaâ€™s shield during the stimulus fightâ€”Republicans teed off on her rather than on the immensely popular new presidentâ€”and that she remains strongly supportive of the administration on health care, energy and education reform.Â

But on Iraq and other high-profile issues that matter to her, aides say Pelosi has no intention of holding her tongue when she thinks Obama is wrong.Â

And sheâ€™s not alone.Â

…

On Wednesday morning, Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.)â€”the longest-serving member of the Senateâ€”accused Obama of trying to steal power from Congress by appointing White House â€œczarsâ€ to handle issues that would otherwise be handled by departments subject to congressional oversight.Â

On Wednesday night, Pelosi made it clear to MSNBCâ€™s Rachel Maddow that she wasnâ€™t happy with Obamaâ€™s plan to leave 50,000 U.S. troops in Iraq and that, unlike Obama, she â€œabsolutelyâ€ favors criminal prosecutions for any Bush administration officials involved in torture or other excesses in the fight against terrorism.Â

On Thursday, Pelosi said sheâ€™d move â€œfasterâ€ than Obama is to roll back Bush-era tax cuts. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Senate Democratic Caucus Vice Chairman Chuck Schumer joined Pelosiâ€™s critique of Obamaâ€™s plan to leave. Reid urged Obama not to push too hard to eliminate congressional earmarks. And Democratic Rep. Gene Taylor of Mississippi took a shot at Obamaâ€™s budget, saying â€œchange is not running up even bigger deficits that George Bush did.â€Â

The article claims this is not open revolt – but clearly it is out in the open and Congress is flexing their levers of power. We shall see, but the spendulus bill was not Pelosi running cover, it was Pelosi running the show leaving it to Obama to sell to the people.

3 Responses to “DC Liberal Democrats Chafing Under Obama”

WASHINGTON: A group of liberal bloggers said it is teaming up with organized labor and MoveOn to form a political action committee that will seek to push the Democratic Party farther to the left.

Soliciting donations from their readers, the bloggers said they are planning to recruit liberal candidates for challenges against more centrist Democrats currently in Congress.

The formation of the group marks another step in the evolution of the blogosphere, which has proved effective at motivating party activists to give money and time to political campaigns, especially in local races.

But it also illuminates a deepening wrinkle for President Barack Obama, whose attempt to build a broad governing coalition â€” often by tempering some of his more liberal previous positions â€” has already angered some of his supporters on the left.

The new organization is in many ways the liberal equivalent of the Club for Growth, a conservative group that has financed primary challenges against Republicans it deems insufficiently dedicated to tax cuts and small government.

Organizers of the new group, to be called Accountability Now, said their intention is to enable Obama to seek more liberal policies without fear of losing support from the more conservative members of his party serving in Congress. But they did not rule out occasional friction with Obama, as well.

â€œWeâ€™re going to be about targeting incumbents to make space for Obama to be more progressive,â€ said Glen Greenwald, a liberal blogger with Salon who is part of the effort. â€œThere may be other times when the Democratic Party, as led by Obama, is being unresponsive, so yeah, we have the potential to push back against that, as well.â€

I have noticed as a long time observer, that Congress always tests the new president. This year it was with the stimulus plan and all the pork and restrictions on freedom that were put into the bill. Obama failed the test. He acquiesced and allowed this hideous bill to pass with virtually no one knowing exactly what was in it. (We won’t know the full extent of the details for months if not years.)

It’s Obamaâ€™s stimulus now. Although it’s the Democrat Congress and Senate’s bill and they will reap the consequences, ultimately it will be Obama who will regret his haste because he’s shown weakness. Liberal Democrats know it and will exploit it and unfortunately our enemies will as well.